Eye on Washington Client Day on the Hill - A Big Success

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Attendees gather after their Hill visits to swap notes and discuss their meetings while completing their scorecards.

Eye on Washington organized a very successful Day on the Hill during which attendees visited with their Representative and two Senators and their staffs. Among the issues discussed were access to capital and federal contracts for small businesses, reform to the small business federal contracting program, the Healthy Families Act, and other issues that impact small businesses nationwide.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Margot Dorfman and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-8) present the Innovation & Performance Award to Urvashi Malhotra, President of Changeis.

Overall over 130 registered for Hill visits and they went to over 110 offices representing 24 states and the District of Columbia. They received several commitments to co-sponsor either the Healthy Families Act (H.R. 932/S. 497) and/or the Small Business Reform Act (H.R. 4341), along with the opportunity to educate legislators and their staffs about their companies, economic contribution to the congressional district and state, and general concerns of the small business community.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) presents the Stellar Award to Michael Ricco who stood in for Sangita Patil, President of American Environmental and Engineering Consultants (AEEC).

Following the Hill visits, registrants attended a very crowded reception during which the USWCC presented its Small Business awards to four companies in the categories of Emerging Star, Innovation & Performance, Growth Master and Stellar. Janet arranged for three of the recipients to be presented with their awards from their Representatives.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA-24) presents the Growth Master Award to Joni Anderson, President of Anderson Burton

Janet also arranged for the Ranking Member on the Small Business Committee – Nydia Velazquez to address the attendees during their reception.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Rep. Velazquez acknowledges the work of USWCC and its members in accepting the award.

Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access Hearing "Lip Service but Little Else: Failure of the Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credit"

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS-1) opens the Subcommittee hearing on the small business health care tax credit.

Eye on Washington arranged for one of her organization member clients to testify before a Small Business Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access hearing on the small business health care tax credit that was made available upon the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In preparation for the hearing, Janet Kopenhaver drafted the witness opening statement, oral remarks and prepared him for questions that would be asked.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Eye on Washington client organization member Michael Ricco responds to a question from Rep. Chu on size standards for eligibility.

Ranking Member Judy Chu (D-CA-27) stated in her opening remarks that the use of this credit is much lower than anticipated and she was hoping to find out why only 170,300 small employers claimed the credit. She added that a big problem with the credit was that strict salary requirements and employee counts had to be met before a company could claim the tax break.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Michael Ricco and another witness - Holly Wade from the NFIB Research Foundation - chat with the Chairman following the hearing.

Click on photo to enlarge or download:Michael Ricco and another witness - Holly Wade from the NFIB Research Foundation - chat with the Chairman following the hearing.

Following the hearing, Michael spoke briefly with the Chairman about the issue.